I didn't think I was going to meet today's challenge of trying something new, but I did a couple of things out of the ordinary. The children both had new- and very positive- experiences too. Faith was involved in leading an assembly- she enjoyed it and it went well. Jacob was very excited to tell me he played a more difficult form of none-stop-cricket, which he thought fantastic!
My new experience came courtesy of Lady Day, or the feast of the Annunciation as it's probably better known, which is today. This feast (9 months before Christmas...) celebrates the angel visiting Mary to inform her she'll be the mother of God incarnate. Quite a big deal.
Each year in our area a different church hosts a service which members of the local branches of Mother's Union attend. This year it was our turn to be hosts and I was asked to preach. This was my first time preaching in the evening, and also to people from outside our own congregation. Thankfully my sermon was well received- and I felt like I'd crossed another hurdle in my training. I'm included my sermon transcript below.
As my mum is here this
evening she may possibly be able to confirm that I’m not the most obedient of
daughters. She did try to ground me once and I think my reply was “don’t be
silly”- sorry mum. Whenever I’m told I ‘must’ do something, something clicks in
my brain and I am compelled to become rather contrary. This might explain, in
stark contrast to Mary’s response, why it took me nearly ten years of hearing
God’s call to train for ministry before I did anything about it.
Or did my delay have more
to do with not feeling worthy? I would hear the clergy preach here each week
and I knew preaching was something I’d never be capable of- you might think I
was right by the end of my sermon.
How many of us have felt
unworthy at one time or another? Maybe we were given some praise we felt wasn’t
deserved, or maybe we avoided something because we didn’t think we were good
enough, or suffered a disappointment that we put down to being “not worthy”.
The way our society can
often ascribe worth- by material wealth, where we were born, our outward
appearance or our intellect, can leave us feeling like we’re falling short of
the mark in so many areas of our lives.
I find for myself there
are also the stereotypes of how a woman, wife and mother should behave, the
skills I should have and the things I ought to be interested in. Whether or not
we meet these expectations can account for the worth others ascribe to us or we
ascribe to ourselves. In my work as a nurse the smallest mistake can leave you
with a feeling of worthlessness.
The word worship is taken
from old English meaning to ascribe worth to something, and people can often be
said to worship money, fame, footballers, actors or themselves. The things and
people we ascribe worth to are not always the things which are necessarily
deserving of it.
So where does this leave
us as Christians? For us the word worthy we can sometimes read as meaning the
same as ‘holy’, although that might mean that not one of us would ever feel we
were worthy! We strive to be worthy of God’s grace, and to live up to Jesus’
example of a sin free life- something we can never achieve.
Something we feel certain
of is that Mary was worthy to be the mother of Jesus- chosen by God, spoken to
by angels, gifted with the Holy Spirit. What can we learn of worth from Mary?
What made her worthy?
In the reading from Luke
there are few clues. We know she was a virgin, and engaged to be married, so we
might assume she was chaste. The angel tells her she is ‘favoured’ and her
reaction might be described as modest and eventual response to God’s plan obedient:
“let it be with me
according to your word”.
The angel tells her not to
be scared, that she has found favour with God. But other than her perceived
chastity, modesty and obedience- what sets Mary aside from all the other
chaste, modest and obedient young women of her age? Why her?
Are there clues in other
women God chose for a purpose? What about the other Mary- Mary Magdalene-
chosen to witness the risen Jesus, and about whom so much is assumed? The only
quality we presume her to share with Jesus’ mother is her uttermost devotion to
Jesus.
What about examples from
the Old Testament? Deborah was the only female judge- doing so for 40 years- so
would have needed to be a very strong character- the lengths she was prepared
to go to were shown when she murdered Sisera with a tent peg, after tricking
him into trusting her.
Of course my illustrations
are chosen to demonstrate that God doesn’t only have use for pure or demure
women- which is how most of us would picture Mary.
From what we know of God I
think we can only make one assumption about Mary- God didn’t choose here
because she was worthy, She was worthy because God chose her. This is God’s
grace in action.
I at no point before
putting myself forward to be trained for the priesthood thought “I’m worthy of
this” – but I heard God’s call and for whatever reason he wanted me. I had a
choice whether or not I was going to be obedient to that call, and against my
nature I eventually was.
We all have a place in
God’s plan. He calls to each of us. It may not be a priestly calling, God calls
us in every way imaginable, but whatever it is do not think that you are not
worthy to be chosen by him. The fact that he has called you, chosen you, makes
you worthy. His grace is a freely given gift to anyone upon whom he wishes to
bestow it.
Of course believing this
removes an obstacle, or excuse, and we then must decide if we will be obedient,
like Mary, when we discern what God wants of us.
I’d like to repeat part of
the reading with some of the words missing:
“Favoured one, the Lord is
with you…do not be afraid…for you have found favour with God”.
